CHAPTER 3

It was in this way that Brandon was able to take Crystal's face in his hands so he could look directly into her eyes. That's how he realized that the woman who was making his heart beat like only one in the past had done, was starting to beat faster than it should.

"Please, Crystal, tell me what you're talking about.”

"Don't hurt me anymore, stop it, Brandon, stop all this.”

"Crystal.”

"I haven't been able to forgive you for what you did to me and you continue hurting me.”

"Crystal.”

"Just let me leave your life, so I can be grateful to you for the rest of eternity.”

"Crystal!” Brandon called louder when he realized that his wife had gone into a state of shock.

Crystal finally looked him in the eyes and it was in that second that she realized that for the first time, a man was looking at her with love and respect for her person. Not being able to resist anymore what the two were feeling there, Brandon, holding Crystal's face in his hands, not being able to bear seeing her lips away from him anymore, not being able to stand that look that she was giving him, from one moment to the next he knew how to end  the distance that was separating them, joining their lips for the first time in a long time and this time, it was a sincere kiss. A kiss that they both always wanted even if they weren't able to let the other know.

Together the two hearts that deserved to be together began to dance in a dance that could last all night. Crystal no longer doubted anything, at least that night she didn't want to doubt anything anymore after everything that had happened, now she just wanted to believe, believe that the person who was kissing her was the same person she had kept in her heart for a long time.

A slow kiss was what the two were experiencing at that moment. A kiss that made forbidden passions and the same hidden passions become present.

Brandon, being delicate with his wife's body, made her rest in the same couch in which they had been sitting without being able to separate herself from his lips. What was about to happen was the same thing they had never thought would happen between the two of them.

And it was in that way that the moon and only the moon witnessed what happened at that moment when they were most lost.

 *****

 Once again and little by little, Crystal's eyes opened. Now that she realized where she was and what she was feeling around her, there was no space, on the contrary, she felt that her body couldn't move easily. On her skin, the sun coming in from the windows burned her. There was something else that she didn't fully remember. Something that had happened that didn't come to her mind easily, an infinite number of memories. Until finally memories hit her mind. Now she had it, now she realized where she woke up, now she realized the reason, now she realized why the sun burned her skin that way, now she realized the reason why she felt so uncomfortable

Finally, being able to get up from her place, she realized that she was completely naked on the floor next to a man, the same man with whom she had spent the night, with whom she had shared more smiles than she had ever done before in her life. It was Brandon the person who woke up next to her, it was Brandon in whom she had completely taken refuge, her naked body woke up winged from him.

She immediately put a hand to her head, she couldn't believe what was happening, she couldn't believe that this had been possible between them after a long time of just arguing, a contract marriage where the most they were going to share was a bed with a line in the middle that prevented them from touching each other. All it took was a few too many drinks, the liquor running through their veins, the laughter, the smiles and everything that made them get there.

She slowly turned to look at the man next to her. He was still asleep on the floor, next to her. Without further ado, not wanting to think more and feeling ashamed enough not to have the face to see him when he woke up, she quickly got up and wrapped one of the sheets around her body and then ran to the bathroom. He couldn't see her wake up next to him, everything had been left behind, everything had stayed in the same place and at the same time when they kissed for the first time.

When she got to the bathroom, she locked herself in. Tears wanted to come out of her eyes at once, she carefully walked to the mirror in front of her. She, that was what she wouldn't have wanted to happen between them, where was her value as a woman? The more she thought about it, she realized that what had happened between them, for her, was not a moment with the Brandon who had signed the documents, but with the Brandon that she came to know and that was the same one that sparked love more sincere in her heart. For a moment she came to believe that this Brandon was no longer the trustworthy person who forced her to do so many things.

A sarcastic smile emerged from her. She couldn't continue thinking about what she couldn't change, so just like that, she went into the bathroom, right where the shower was, and without worrying about the hot water, she preferred to bathe with the cold water that she should have taken last night.

In her mind a thousand memories, in her mind the way Brandon had treated her, the first time being with him, being treated so delicately, being treated the way she always wanted to be treated by a man but surely in his mind, having another woman, a woman who would never be her.

And in the end, what was happening downstairs the moment Brandon woke up? Didn't he need the memories to come to his mind, didn't he need the alcohol to stop running through his veins to understand what had happened?  At that moment, a smile appeared on his face, he still did not open his eyes and he was already able to know who the person was next to him, so being that way, Brandon opened his eyes suddenly. Unfortunately, his smile was erased the moment he realized that no one else woke up next to him, Crystal was no longer there, the woman with whom he had shared so many laughs one night ago was no longer there, and above all, his feelings for having surrendered him after so long of having given up a woman.

"Crystal," he said, seeing that she was not around him. It was a shame he couldn't see her anywhere.

He didn't even know he had taken it to that extreme, the only thing he had in his head was that that couldn't be possible.